On the Square Today

Alyssa Rosenberg argues on Slate that Romeo and Juliet is full of terrible, deeply childish ideas about love. Shes quite right . . . because thats the point of the play. Reading the text, instead of assuming it represents the genre perfect love that is tragically thwarted, makes it clear that other characters and arguably Shakespeare himself see Romeo and Juliets love as gravely flawed.

What did the Republican Washington establishment do in the recent immigration negotiations? They pushed for the largest possible guest worker program with the lowest possible wages. The impact of such a guest worker program on the wages of Americans without college degrees would likely be small, but as an indication of GOP priorities it is a much larger problem.

I was deeply moved when Aaron included Gabriel in the dedication of The Catholic Guide to Depression , his new book (co-authored with Monsignor John R. Cihak). Aaron writes about what it was like for him to walk into my familys tragedy. More importantly, he and his co-author offer hope to depression sufferers and their families.